SNL

What happened?

When did SNL become so bad? I mean, honestly, I can't remember the last time that the show made me laugh with any regularity.

I honestly had given up on the show years ago, but the past two weeks (one of them a rerun) the guests intrigued me. Last week they re-aired the episode with Steve Carrell and this week Dane Cook hosted (by the way, both funny men auditioned for SNL and didn't get on). While I find both hosts funny in most everything else I have seen them do, somehow SNL sucked the funny right out of them.

To me that comes down to the writing and deciding what sketches make it to air that week. There are so many poorly written sketches on the show these days that I find it hard to understand why NBC has not canceled this show. While I was at Second City in Detroit, I was able to see sketches written by my colleagues that were so superior to this stuff it's unbelievable. SNL sketches, to me, seem like a bunch of inside jokes. Somehow when these guys are pitching sketches enough people giggle or think that the concept is strange so it gets on the show.

On this past Saturday's show, one entire sketch was all about an itchy sweater. When I write that I think of plenty of possibilities for some funny to happen, but where the amazing writers of SNL take it is not to Funnyville, USA. They just had Dane Cook act like a crazed maniac and eventually do a few pratfalls before crashing through a table. Don't get me wrong, a good table crashing or someone falling down does have laugh possibilities, but is that the best they can do?

The next big problem is the cast itself. With the exception of Amy Poehler, who on this show is funny. Tina Fey has her moments and Horatio Sanz gets my sympathy giggles because he is the "big guy" like me, but other than that, this cast is pretty bad. It's not like this just happened either. It has been bad with a few bright spots for a while now. Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon and Chris Kattan (you love him or hate him) were the last group of funny people on that show. They were all together the last time in 2000. Again, there have been funny people for stretches over the years, but when was the last time a truly great cast was on that show, writing and performing great sketches?

I think you have to go back to the 1990-1991 cast to really see a cast that held up the standard set by the first cast back in 1975. Listen to the group of people on during the 1990-1991 season:

Dana Carvey, Chris Farley, Al Franken, Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, Tim Meadows, Dennis Miller, Mike Myers, Kevin Nealon, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Julia Sweeney.

It's hard to believe now that that much talent was all on the same show at the same time. I know that some of it is nostalga for me. That was when I was growing up and hitting adulthood, so I'm sure that I'm biased, but come on, those were some very funny people. There may be some people in there that you detest, but how does a guy like Jimmy Fallon compare to them? He to me has to be one of the worst ever on SNL. His only song and dance was to break character and have giggle fits during sketches, which can be funny when it happens every once in a while, just not every sketch!!

The long and the short of it, is SNL needs to get back to the things that make comedy, comedy. The everyday with a twist. You know what? Itchy sweater sketch could have worked, we've all had an itchy sweater. That being said, an itchy sweater is only funny for a certain amount of time. Learn when and how to end a sketch SNL. That may never happen...

Maybe - just as the Lions did this past week with the firing of the Mooch - it's time to say goodbye to Lorne Michaels. He is the coach and it all falls on him in the end, doesn't it?

Whatever happens, somebody be sure to let me know when SNL gets good again...